Jean is a gentle young girl growing up in 1970s and 1980s Dublin, living with her authoritarian and volatile father, her mother and siblings. She has a loving relationship with her mother until a new pregnancy leaves her exhausted. Jean’s solace at home is in her baby brother John and kind but meek Aunty Ida, who visits regularly despite Jean’s father’s hostility towards her. Often on her father’s bad side, and trying her best to help her weary mother, life for Jean is anxiety-ridden with only small glimmers of joy. But a much worse darkness comes into Jean’s life through their extended family. 

This is a beautifully written but heartbreaking read, Jean’s innocence of voice and perspective, and compassionate nature, in stark contrast to the injustice and violation she endures, and the badness in some of the adults around her. Innocent and childlike as she may be, Jean still observes and understands things that the adults think she may not and, as our narrator, we get a rich view of her inner world. At a time when children were often to be seen and not heard, and certainly not believed over an adult, Jean ultimately voices some of the wrongs she sees around her, only to have her suspicions confirmed that no one wants to hear what she has to say, and her marching orders from home given. 

Her difficulties follow her beyond her home life, exploring the lasting effects of trauma, following people through their lives, affecting future decisions and relationships. But all Jean needs is for someone to believe her, and believe in her. Jean is a captivating and endearing narrator. Her voice, starting out as that of a very young child and shifting as she grows older, embodying vulnerability, anxiety, childlike wonder, small wisdoms and more, draws us in to feel for her, and feel with her. A striking and poignant debut with beautiful storytelling, exploring some dark and triggering themes, including toxic masculinity and the inexcusable treatment by men of the women and girls around them, all told in a gentle voice of resilience driven by a belief that a more hopeful place exists. 

***

Girl in the Making was published by Sandycove in March 2024.

***

Anna Fitzgerald was born and raised in Dublin. Girl in the Making is her first novel.